Security researcher and author Kris Kaspersky plans to demonstrate how an attacker can target flaws in Intel’s microprocessors to remotely attack a computer using JavaScript or TCP/IP packets, regardless of what operating system the computer is running.

Kaspersky will demonstrate how such an attack can be made in a presentation at the upcoming Hack In The Box (HITB) Security Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during October. The proof-of-concept attacks will show how processor bugs, called errata, can be exploited using certain instruction sequences and a knowledge of how Java compilers work, allowing an attacker to take control of the compiler.

“I’m going to show real working code…and make it publicly available,” Kaspersky said, adding that CPU bugs are a growing threat and malware is being written that targets these vulnerabilities.

Different bugs will allow hackers to do different things on the attacked computers. “Some bugs just crash the system, some allow a hacker to gain full control on the kernel level. Some just help to attack Vista, disabling security protections,” he said.

The demonstrated attack will be made against fully patched computers running a range of operating systems, including Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Linux and BSD, Kaspersky said, adding that the demonstration of an attack against a Mac is also a possibility.

Really, one terabyte isn’t enough? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that your insatiable need for more digital storage has left Seagate no choice but to announce the world’s first 1.5TB hard drive. The half-terabyte jump over previous highest capacity 1TB drives, Seagate is happy to point out, represents the largest jump in capacity in hard-drive history. The 3.5-inch Barracuda 7200.11 uses perpendicular magnetic recording, which squeezes more 1s and 0s per square inch than conventional drives, to pack 1.5TB of storage space over four platters. Seagate isn’t sharing pricing details yet. The drive will begin shipping in August.

Blank DVDs are a cheaper storage option than Blu-ray, but the HD format has the enviable quality of greater capacity. However, Japanese storage scientists claim to have invented a method for storing up to 42GB onto a single DVD.

Researchers from the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, based in Japan’s Tohoku University, have – according to Google’s translation of a document released by the university department – discovered a way to multiply the amount of data stored on a DVD. The group also claims to be able to replicate the method for CDs.

Essentially, the team states that by changing the shape of the data-storage pits from having a flat bottom to one that’s a V shape, each pit will be able to hold more data. Changing the horizontal orientation of the tip of the valley, alters the way light is reflected by the pit. As a result, pits no longer represent binary 1s and 0s, but a range of values, effectively allowing each to record a byte rather than a bit.

Wireless systems used by many hospitals to keep track of medical equipment can cause potentially deadly breakdowns in lifesaving devices such as breathing and dialysis machines, researchers reported Tuesday in a study that warned hospitals to conduct safety tests.

Some of the microchip-based “smart” systems are touted as improving patient safety, but a Dutch study of equipment — without the patients — suggests the systems could actually cause harm.

A U.S. patient-safety expert said the study “is of urgent significance” and said hospitals should respond immediately to the “disturbing” results.

The wireless systems send out radio waves that can interfere with equipment such as respirators, external pacemakers and kidney dialysis machines, according to the study.

Researchers discovered the problem in 123 tests they performed in an intensive-care unit at an Amsterdam hospital. Patients were not using the equipment at the time.

Electromagnetic glitches occurred in almost 30 percent of the tests when microchip devices similar to those in many types of wireless medical equipment were placed within about one foot of the lifesaving machines.

Nearly 20 percent of the cases involved hazardous malfunctions that would probably harm patients. These included breathing machines that switched off; mechanical syringe pumps that stopped delivering medication; and external pacemakers, which regulate the heart, that malfunctioned.

The wireless systems are used to tag and keep track of medical equipment like heart-testing machines, joint replacements and surgical staplers. They can help quickly locate devices that are elsewhere in the hospital and help prevent theft.

The technology also is viewed as a way to prevent drug counterfeiting, by embedding microchips in drug containers, and to prevent harmful medical errors by keeping tabs on devices used during surgery.

The results show that it’s crucial for hospitals to test their wireless items before using them around equipment essential for keeping patients alive, said Dr. Erik Jan van Lieshout, a study co-author and critical care specialist at the University of Amsterdam’s Academic Medical Center.

Sun Microsystems looks poised to lead the “mainstream” multi-core race for at least a couple more years. By late 2009, the server maker should deliver a third major revision of its Niagara processor which will have 16 cores and an astonishing 16 threads per core, The Register has learned.

Today, Sun sells an eight-core “Niagara” chip that can handle eight software threads per core. Customers can fit two of these UltraSPARC T2 chips, as they’re officially called, into a server, providing up to 128 threads in a 1U system. Soon enough, Sun will also sell a four-socket system code-named Botaka.

We’ve confirmed that Sun is looking to push the UltraSPARC Tx line to even greater heights with a 16-core, 16-thread per core eight-socket server. So, each socket is chewing through an insane 256 threads. And the eight-socket box will do 2,048 threads.

Scientists unveiled the world’s fastest supercomputer on Monday, a $100 million machine that for the first time has performed 1,000 trillion calculations per second in a sustained exercise.

The technology breakthrough was accomplished by engineers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM Corp. on a computer to be used primarily on nuclear weapons work, including simulating nuclear explosions.

The computer, named Roadrunner, is twice as fast as IBM’s Blue Gene system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which itself is three times faster than any of the world’s other supercomputers, according to IBM.

“The computer is a speed demon. It will allow us to solve tremendous problems,” said Thomas D’Agostino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons research and maintains the warhead stockpile.

But officials said the computer also could have a wide range of other applications in civilian engineering, medicine and science, from developing biofuels and designing more fuel-efficient cars to finding drug therapies and providing services to the financial industry.

To put the computer’s speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today’s most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world’s 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.

The IBM and Los Alamos engineers worked six years on the computer technology.

Some elements of the Roadrunner can be traced back to popular video games, said David Turek, vice president of IBM’s supercomputing programs. In some ways, he said, it’s “a very souped-up Sony PlayStation 3.”

“We took the basic chip design (of a PlayStation) and advanced its capability,” said Turek.

But the Roadrunner supercomputer, named after the New Mexico state bird, is nothing like a video game.

The interconnecting system occupies 6,000 square feet with 57 miles of fiber optics and weighs 500,000 pounds. Although made from commercial parts, the computer consists of 6,948 dual-core computer chips and 12,960 cell engines, and it has 80 terabytes of memory housed in 288 connected refrigerator-sized racks.

The cost: $100 million.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rolled out a new package of chips for laptops Wednesday, a major overhaul of its mobile lineup the chip maker hopes will help it climb out of a deep financial trough.

The Sunnyvale-based company, saddled with debt and hurt by product delays, is betting consumers will gravitate toward its new Turion brand processor and related chipset - part of a package that chip makers call a “platform” and sell together - because of their focus on high-definition video playback.

This new generation of Turion laptop chips will appear at launch in twice as many different computers - from Hewlett-Packard Co., Acer Inc., Toshiba Corp. and others - as the previous generation, released two years ago, AMD said.

According to ZDNet.de, Intel Germany CEO Hannes Schwaderer confirmed that Apple would be using the Intel Atom processor in a future version of the iPhone. The new model will reportedly be a larger model with a larger display, correlating with circulating rumors about a mini-tablet (720×480) device rumored to be coming from Apple.

Call/Recall has announced it is developing a 1TB optical drive and disk, backwards compatible with Blu-ray, in partnership with with the Nichia Corporation of Japan.

Call/Recall began synthesizing 1TB materials for Nichia’s blue-violet laser diodes in December 2007, with first initial testing successfully completed in March 2008.

InPhase has just this year announced its revolutionary 300GB holographic disk and here is another optical format with more than three times the capacity. How realistic is this?

Call/Recall and Nichia will jointly develop the ultra high-capacity optical disc recording and playback system. It is designed around Nichia’s commercially available violet and blue laser diodes and Call/Recall’s one terabyte media.

One secret sauce is the use of a Rhodamine-type dye in a recording layer. It is excited by laser light and reacts to give off light when excited by another laser at a different wavelength. Such light emission or its absence can be used to indicate binary ones and zeroes.

The dye spots are tiny and can exist in 200-250 layers thus providing the 1TB capacity. The use of a single lens to read multiple layers is enabled by having a fluid-filled lens and increasing/reducing the fluid content and thus the lens’ profile and its focal length.

The I/O rate is said to be around 100MB/sec, five times faster than InPhase’s holographic drives.

The process is not reversible and produces write-once-read-many (WORM) media. Reversibility is being worked on and there is a generalised roadmap out to 5TB, still on CD-sized 120mm platters.

A New York judge concluded Tuesday that Dell Inc. engaged in repeated false and deceptive advertising of its promotional credit financing and warranties.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi ordered the computer retailer to more clearly disclose that most customers don’t qualify for free financing or get “next day” repair service.

“It appears likely that there are many more New York consumers who are entitled to restitution who are not included in the complaints,” Teresi wrote.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Dell last year. Teresi gave him until Dec. 1 to identify all consumer claims for third-party repairs, new computers or higher interest payments than they would have paid otherwise.

“For too long at Dell the promise of customer service was a bait and switch that left thousands of people paying for essentially no service at all,” Cuomo said. “This decision sends an important message that all corporations will be held accountable for the promises they make to consumers.”

Laptop users may soon get longer battery life from their machines, with ZPower set to plug in its new silver-zinc batteries, which it claims last significantly longer than traditional lithium-ion batteries.

The batteries will be available in consumer and business laptops from major PC makers starting in August, according to Ross Dueber, the CEO of ZPower, although he declined to name any of the vendors on Thursday.

Silver-zinc batteries pack more energy than lithium-ion batteries, giving laptops 40 percent more run time, according to Dueber. If a laptop runs for two hours with a lithium-ion battery, it should run for closer to three hours with a silver-zinc battery, he said.

The battery’s water-based chemistry also makes it nonflammable, compared to lithium-ion, which uses dimethyl carbonate, a flammable liquid. Cells can go off “like firecrackers” in lithium-ion batteries, Dueber said.

The silver-zinc batteries also won’t degrade in capacity during the first year, while lithium-ion batteries can lose up to 30 percent of their capacity over that period, Dueber said. After a year, however, silver-zinc batteries start degrading at a rate similar to lithium-ion batteries.

It also remains to be seen if silver-zinc batteries can compete on price, since lithium-ion is relatively cheap, Sapru said. The silver-zinc batteries contain silver, which can be expensive.

Intel posted price cuts on Sunday that included reductions of 50 percent on select quad-core processors. The chipmaker also introduced new Celeron and Core 2 Duo processor models.

The price of the Core 2 Quad Q6700 (2.66GHz) fell 50 percent from $530 to $266, while the quad-core Xeon X3230 (2.66GHz) saw an identical cut: from $530 to $266.

Celeron price-cut highlights include the Celeron 430 (1.80GHz), reduced 23 percent from $44 to $34 and the dual-core Celeron E1200 (1.60GHz), falling 19 percent from $53 to $43.

The dual-core Xeon 3085 (3.00Ghz) was reduced 29 percent from $266 to $188, and the Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.00GHz), from $266 to $183 (31 percent).